Anonymous’ Twitter account suspended then reinstated

@YourAnonNews, one of Anonymous’ main Twitter accounts for relaying the hacktivist organization’s messages, was suspended earlier today by Twitter. It was later reinstated after approximately an hour, potentially allowing the social media giant to avoid the wrath of Anonymous.

The @YourAnonNews Twitter account has over 700,000 followers and is probably the most cited Twitter account associated with Anonymous’ international hacktivist movement. The account is frequently used to announce the group’s various activities and missions.

Anonymous is the title used to describe several hacking-based internet subcultures that have no formal organizational or leadership structure. The group strongly opposes censorship and forms of surveillance, strongly advocates for free speech and often uses denial-of-service attacks (DD0S) to attack organizations it disagrees with. The group has also used its vast membership to investigate people it considers evil, outing them in online communities that then seek revenge on those individuals.

In response to the Pirate Bays creator’s being found guilty of helping the facilitation of copyright infringement, Anonymous launched a DDoS attack against the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. When the US Department of Justice and the FBI took down Megaupload, a popular file sharing website, Anonymous responded by attacking various U.S. government websites.

Anonymous was also heavily involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement and has been responsible for cyber-attacks on the Pentagon, News Corp. and at one point, even threatened to take down Facebook.

So, by giving Anonymous back its semi-offical Twitter account, Twitter might have just dodged a bullet.